Part of what makes winning consistently in the NFL so difficult is the fact that keeping a roster together is extremely tough. The salary cap leads to constant changes across the league, particularly when players are due for extensions after playing out their very affordable rookie contract.
The Rams will get a taste of that this offseason when Cory Littleton hits free agency, as will Dante Fowler Jr. – whom the Rams gave a one-year extension last offseason. They’re two of the Rams’ biggest names who will hit the open market, with Andrew Whitworth and Michael Brockers being in that group, too.
It’s unreasonable to think the Rams will be able to keep all of those guys together, given their limited cap space. Sean McVay knows that will be a challenge of the offseason, calling it “frustrating,” but he’s always happy to see players getting paid.
“That’s something that you learn. It’s about working through and figuring out, ‘All right, based on what we do have, how can we make it work?’ I think the tough thing is, you want to see all of these players get rewarded accordingly because the work and some of the things that you go through together,” he said Friday. “It’s so awesome to see these guys get rewarded, be able to take care of their families. You’d love to see everyone get paid, you’d love to be able to keep everybody. Unfortunately, that’s not real and that’s not realistic. If these guys are getting rewarded, that still is something you can take a lot of pride in. You’d always love to be able to retain your own guys. As you’re continuing to kind of navigate through what’s the best way to shape out our roster, given the financials and all those types of things, those are things that you work through. Frustrating, but something that you have to deal with, and everybody has to deal with that.”
The Rams defense could look very different in 2020. Eric Weddle may be a cap casualty, along with Clay Matthews. Brockers could leave in free agency, Littleton might price himself out of the Rams’ range and Fowler will have a chance to cash in elsewhere.
If Los Angeles loses all of those players, there will be a lot of new faces on defense. And that’s without even touching on the offense, which has fewer pending free agents but could lose two starters up front with Whitworth’s and Austin Blythe’s contracts expiring.
It will be an interesting offseason in L.A., to say the least.
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